Game, Set, Match for Central Ft. George Tennis Courts
Monday, September 9, 2013 @ 7:00 PM
Prince George, B.C. – The tennis courts at Central Fort George have been spared.
City Staff say they visited tennis courts throughout the City, and the recommendations for closure of 32 tennis courts were based on lack of use, and high cost of necessary repairs.
The City maintains 61 tennis courts in the City, ceasing to maintain those that are not used, or in need of major capital repair could save about $28 thousand a year and more than $600 thousand dollars in capital upgrades.
Council has unanimously approved the plan to cease maintenance on the following courts:
1 Clearwood Park 1 court
2 Harwin Elementary School 3 courts
3 Malaspina Park 3 courts
4 Quinson Elementary School 3 courts
5 South Fort Family Resource 3 courts
6 Van Bien Elementary School 3 courts
7 Vanway Elementary School 2 courts
8 Westwood Elementary School 3 courts
9 Eaglenest Park 3 courts
10 Fairburn Park 3 courts
11 Fort George Park (Gyro) 2 courts
Those courts that will no longer be maintained, but may still be used as outdoor skating rinks in the winter. The sites will be cleaned up to reduce any threat to public safety.
The three courts at Central Fort George were on the initial list for closure, but Councillor Garth Frizzell wanted them added to the “continue to maintain list”, as the loss of that site would mean residents in that region would not have close access. His amendment was approved, but the Mayor and Council Stolz were among those who opposed the motion.
The courts that will now continue to be maintained are as follows: (Capital upgrade needs at right)
1 Carrie Jane Gray Park 3 courts $ 100,300.00
2 Ecole Lac des Bois 3 courts $ 3,550.00
3 College Heights Secondary School 4 courts $ 2,950.00
4 Heritage (DP Todd) 3 courts $ 2,550.00
5 Duchess Park 2 courts (new facility) – $0
6 Ridgeview Park 3 courts ( excellent condition – $0)
7 Peden Hill School 3 courts $2,550.00
8 Blackburn School 3 courts $2,550.00
9 Kelly Road 4 courts (excellent court – $0)
10 North College Park $1,550.00
11.Central Fort George 3 courts $2,550.00
Comments
hum. All of these courts could have got their needed improvements for only 1/3 the cost of the core review.
Dump some city bureaucrats taxpayer paid electric and hybrid toys and maybe there could be money for these facilities.
Can someone explain why we want to keep facilities that almost nobody uses?
“Can someone explain why we want to keep facilities that almost nobody uses”
How often is the bandshell at Fort George Park used? 5 times a year? Certainly not more than 10 times. Time to get rid of it.
Then again, maybe there is another way to determine whether something should be not built, built, maintained, not maintained, removed.
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Btw, it does not say here what will happen to the courts which will no longer be maintained.
I hope they will remove the fences which will no longer be needed and will become an eyesore shortly if they are not that already. What will that one time cost be?
I just hope they leave them alone fences and all, so they can still be used for ice rinks in the winter months.
Now we don’t have any tennis courts between 5th and 15th other than Duchess Park. Foothills, Lakewood, Spruceland, and Harwin all gone.
If they don’t want to maintain them for usable tennis courts than leave them for the future generations for road hockey and ice hockey. Put the wood boards in and leave them in year round.
“Can someone explain why we want to keep facilities that almost nobody uses”
I played allot of tennis growing up in PG and perhaps the reason they aren’t used is because they are in such disrepair that it’s unsafe and/or impractical to actually play tennis on them.
Ever tried to play tennis on a surface that holds puddles, one that has cracks that impact how the ball bounces or surfaces that have subtle little divots that can trip you up? Not fun.
psst has it bang on IMHO. This is all about priorities and nothing more.
The intent is to keep the closed courts so that they can be used for ice rinks in the winter.
Some of these Tennis Courts have not been used for years, some as much as ten years, so its obvious that they should go. Especially if the City Admin has been showing the cost of maintenance in their budget.
Gus your right there should be a way to determine whether or not something should or should not be built. The Wood Innovation Building was a prime example. A totally useless building, that for all intents and purposes will at best be a resting place for tired Civil Servants, and a hang out for Engineering Students who would have been better served at the University.
$27 Million spent to make some company in Penticton rich building laminated beams.
PS. I note that the new car dealership on the Prince George Golf and Curling club property is being built with metal studs. Prince George exhorts people around the world to build with wood, while we build with cement and metal.
As Artie Johnson would say Verrrry Interestink but stupid.
gus: “How often is the bandshell at Fort George Park used? 5 times a year? Certainly not more than 10 times. Time to get rid of it.”
Maybe you have something there. I guess it would depend on what it costs to maintain the bandshell year to year. The City was looking at spending $800K to maintain and upgrade the tennis courts, which aren’t used much. Thankfully, the City made the right decision in closing half of them down. Maybe in a few years they’ll close half of what’s remaining.
“I note that the new car dealership on the Prince George Golf and Curling club property is being built with metal studs”
The policy in BC is for public buildings to go through a wood first screen first. If reason dictates that other materials are better then other materials can be used.
Private buildings are totally different. In my opinion, using wood instead of steel for wall infill structures is idiotic for stability in substrate, fire rating, cost, and the fact that it has been a standard for decades.
In the 1960s and 70s there was a huge push by the steel lobby to convert from wood joists to steel channel joists in the house building industry. Even though there were cost savings due to column reductions, reduction in floor springiness, as well as reduction in eventual floor squeaking, it never took off.
Tradition is very difficult to overcome in indigenous construction the world over.
“Maybe in a few years they’ll close half of what’s remaining.”
Or build a few new ones with less maintenance needs …. perhaps we could call them Rotary courts the same as the football fields and other public amenities in this and other cities.
How about the lawn bowling facility? …. several of the softball pitches, including the newer one on North Nechako Rd?
Look at the Heritage River trail along the Nechako. Not being maintained. Let’s get rid of it. Anyone who knows anything about the scouring along such fast moving rivers should never have built trails that close to the edge in the first place. BUT I am sure no one will take responsibility for that poor decision.
In my opinion, a good designer and even a good builder is a very cautious person.
“The intent is to keep the closed courts so that they can be used for ice rinks in the winter.”
How many are actually used for ice rinks? Very few as far as I can tell.
gus: “Or build a few new ones with less maintenance needs.”
This is the key, imo. When we open new facilities, we need to ask tougher questions about future maintenance and upkeep. We are on an unsustainable path with our current municipal facilities, and that needs to change soon. The City’s decision on the tennis courts at least shows that someone gets it.
“We are on an unsustainable path with our current municipal facilities”
So the solution is to eliminate tennis courts? Good grief. That’s like saying that if one is on an unsustainable path with their housing costs, that their solution is to cut back on the cable bill.
I’d actually suggest that the city decidedly DOES NOT get it . . .
NMG: “So the solution is to eliminate tennis courts? Good grief.”
Calm down. Nobody said it was the final solution for anything. However, it is a small step in the right direction. We really need to start casting a more critical eye on these sorts of things, and take sentimentality out of the equation. The status quo is not acceptable.
NMG: “That’s like saying that if one is on an unsustainable path with their housing costs, that their solution is to cut back on the cable bill.”
That’s a good example of controlling costs and separating ‘wants’ vs. ‘needs’. It is not the be all and end all, but as mentioned above, a step in the right direction.
If I was having trouble making payments on my house, the cable would probably be the first thing to go. It wouldn’t solve all of my finanical problems, but it would be a start.
I am going to jump in here with a bit of history.
When Desmond Parker, the Architect and City Planner who was at the peak of his career during the 1960s and 1970s, planned the subdivisions west of the bypass, he riddled those neighbourhoods with tennis courts, in part because he was from Australia, which had the highest number of tennis courts per capita in the world at the time, and because he was an avid tennis player himself.
It was said that for that part of the city, we had more PUBLIC tennis courts per capita than any other city in Canada. Not sure if that was true but, having grown up in Ottawa, it sure felt like it.
The thing about any facility is that they can be the best quality, but if there are no programs to promote them, they will not reach their potential.
The Rotary soccer fields are a good case in point. They are jam packed right now because someone organizes the teams and the leagues which can only flourish if we have the facility. The two go hand in hand. We never had a good tennis program in this City.
Kids who were never taught how to play along with an adult population where there were not enough interested in playing and passing that skill on to the next generation cannot support a program. Without a program, we are dead in the water.
One more thing I will add. I can remember waiting for weeks in the spring for the City to put the nets up. Some of the best playing time in an already short season was missed as a result of that poor support.
So, what can we take away from the public tennis court experience?
Let us look at the potential skating rink pads left behind. If we do not have some sort of program to support the use of those rinks PLUS maintenance of those rinks, they will be next unless the population of this city and the administration at the City get together to make it work.
“If I was having trouble making payments on my house, the cable would probably be the first thing to go. It wouldn’t solve all of my finanical problems, but it would be a start”
My point was that cutting back the cable bill would do virtually nothing to address the systemic financial challenges that you were facing. It may, however, make you feel good about making some “hard” decisions.
I liken this and the core review for that matter, as the exact same thing. It’s a good story for showing how “fiscally responsible” the city is being and it’s a very safe thing to cut because nobody will really care. It won’t accomplish anything though and you can bet there will be another goofy multimillion dollar project down the road that will be approved simply for the photo op.
gus, I think you are right about the skating surfaces. Growing up it was virtually impossible to find anyone in the neighbourhood willing to maintain them (the city wouldn’t do it), so most of them ended up filling up with snow and ice and being useless during the winter. Heck, they were used less for skating than they were for tennis, LOL. They weren’t bad for ball hockey except for the gravel that you would inevitably get in the face, courtesy of the fact that they were never swept . . .
NMG: “My point was that cutting back the cable bill would do virtually nothing to address the systemic financial challenges that you were facing. It may, however, make you feel good about making some “hard” decisions. “
And my point is that when facing financial difficulties, it’s better to take the small step, cut the cable than shrug your shoulders and blame ‘the system’ and continue along the same path.
gus: “Let us look at the potential skating rink pads left behind. If we do not have some sort of program to support the use of those rinks PLUS maintenance of those rinks”
As you mentioned, I doubt many of the tennis courts left behind will actually be used for rinks in the winter. I suspect many of them will fall into further disrepair.
If the demand is there, a program would be set up. People would likely have to volunteer a lot of time to get such a thing going and keep it going. I doubt PG has the people who would take it on. Maybe I’m wrong…
Just remember that city staff only have so much time in their day to look for cost savings. They could focus on piddly things like this, or things that might actually improve the financial position of the city in a material way.
Focusing on items saving $28,000 a year when you have operating revenues of $150 million per year? Someone is either missing the boat and/or they are used to being around a small businesses environment, which the city is not . . .
NMG: “Focusing on items saving $28,000 a year”
From the story above… “The City maintains 61 tennis courts in the City, ceasing to maintain those that are not used, or in need of major capital repair could save about $28 thousand a year and more than $600 thousand dollars in capital upgrades.”
It’s still peanuts. The capital budget for the city was 90M in 2010 (not sure what it is now) so based on those figures, the 600K saving is roughly half of one percent. That is still immaterial by any standard.
BTW, you have to look at current and capital expenditures as two different things. Capital items are funded largely by debt, grants or other reserve funds and their cost is typically spread out over much longer periods. They are not paid for in one business cycle.
It doesn’t matter how you cut it, this is small potatoes in the grand scheme of things and it amounts to looking for crumbs when they should be searching for bread (if of course you subscribe to the belief that there are savings to be had in city operations).
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